Selfishness: devoted to or caring only for oneself; concerned primarily with one’s own interests, benefits, welfare, etc., regardless of others

Entrepreneurs can be selfish but with one difference. We still care about others while we concentrate on ourselves.

We know what is best for us.

Rather than living up to the expectations of others, we live up to our own. By becoming our best selves, we have more to offer those around us. While we know we have to compete with other business owners, we tend to spend more time trying to better ourselves.

We deserve our best.

By being mindful of our own needs and our unique qualities, we bring our customers products and services that are of use to them. Rather than copying what is already out there we come up with new ideas that improve on what is available. At the same time, we won’t cut corners on quality.

We think of ourselves.

We work from our home offices. This way we can put in extra hours when we want to, trying to come up with innovative concepts and original methods of making complicated things simple. This makes life easier for others but most of all it makes life easier for us. We make our businesses part of the way we live our lives.

We never let ourselves down.

By being responsible for ourselves, we make sure our most important needs are met. We look after our health, get lots of sleep, work hard and make sure we have time for our families, friends and hobbies. This way we have more energy to help those that need it.

We are self-centred.

We focus completely on what we are doing. We realize that short-term pain means long-term gain for all of us but we won’t ignore our needs while making those gains.

We’ve been told many times, that if we put our minds to it, anyone can be an entrepreneur.

Maybe they can, but can they become a good one – a great one? Some say there is no way everyone can be an entrepreneur. The job is too demanding and much too time consuming.

These are valid points but the fact is, not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. To many, the thought is terrifying and exhausting. The lack of what they see as security, routine and “normality” would have them running in the opposite direction as fast as they could. The amount of work involved is much too much for most.

But for those who have a mindset that is just a little bit different, who are just slightly more independent, that thought is there, in the background. The sense of satisfaction and empowerment they would feel if they worked on their own. It fuels their dreams and while they may never take that “big” step and start their own business, they still will be found working just a little bit differently than the average person.

What traits and qualities lead to success as an entrepreneur? Look around at those who have built a thriving business for themselves and you’ll often find most if not all of the qualities below.

People skills

The ability to connect not so much with large groups or as a speaker but one on one in a professional, well spoken way. People appreciate your putting your full attention on them and interacting in such a way that they know you have been listening to them.

Originality

New ideas are important and new ideas that are a good fit for other new products are even better. You want your small business to work well with other businesses of various sizes and there are times when the ability to fit in is very important.

Confidence

Being confident in yourself and your abilities can bring you a long way. Confidence means you can stand your ground in a diplomatic way. You’re not afraid to have to disagree sometimes but you are also able to concede a point. Be able to agree to disagree.

Having control of your emotions and behaviour

Always. Losing your temper or being impatient shows a lack of ability to cope. Always remember that there could be someone watching or listening that could help you build your business. If you’re having one of those days where the wrong word could send you over the edge, keep your socializing or contact with others to a minimum. Sometimes silence really is golden.

Be comfortable with yourself

The best business people know their shortcomings and also what they excel at. They’ve learned to relax into their personality, their habits, their creativity and their lifestyle. One thing that is noticeable is that they are always well dressed. Not business suit attire but pulled together. After all, you never know when you may come across a potential contact!

Many of us think we could become great entrepreneurs, but there are those of us who are best with routine and reliability. When working outside of this, we feel that we aren’t in control of our lives and live with the nagging feeling that there are things that could go wrong at anytime. The steady nine to five position works best for some. It makes them happy and we need people like this.

The long hours and self induced solitude that can come with entrepreneurship won’t work for everyone. We all have our own very interesting abilities and some of us are just meant to take that different road which leads to running our own business, that road less travelled.

As a business owner, it can be frustrating when you hear about that one business that got the great account, was the first to offer a product that became very popular or because of their great service, is talked about a lot and therefore attracts new customers.

Did they do something that you didn’t? Does their business offer something that yours doesn’t? Most likely, it isn’t that they did something completely different or had something that your business didn’t have. These are business owners who were wise enough to advantage of an opportunity or created one for themselves. They had been in business a long time but didn’t give in to the belief that it was too late for them. They didn’t feel that their business was what it was and things weren’t going to change.

Opportunities for your business are everywhere, you just have to be aware of what is going on around you. You also have to realize that your business, regardless of what it is, has an impact on your customers. Just because the ideas you have are small and your business is small doesn’t mean it isn’t important to others as well as yourself. Understand the significance your business has, look at how other business owners are taking advantage of opportunities and turn these same opportunities into growth for your business, not by copying, but by borrowing the ideas and turning them into something that is a great fit for you and your products.

Competition is good for your business. It makes you stop and think of how you can improve what you offer so that what you have is better than what is out there. It gives you a push to want to succeed more by improving your business. It makes you stop and think of how your business is going to grow with the trends so it will still be viable in the future. Decide that you will no longer ignore what is right under your business nose, grasp what is available and if you need to learn new skills to do that, then learn them.

It’s never too late to make great things happen. Just think, Harlan Sanders, the Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame, was 66 when he began to promote his style of cooking and created an empire. There’s still room for more great ideas. One of them could be yours.

Many businesses and companies, comfortable in their growth up to the present time, tend to be leery of changing their present methods of doing business, afraid it may upset the balance that they have achieved so far.

While it’s wise to be cautious in a slow economy, concerns that verge on paranoia will not help your business survive, let alone thrive. There are several methods that obviously help businesses to expand and learning more about them can help.

I don’t need a website or a shopping cart.

My products and services sell very well right now, so why would I bother selling them online also? As of last year only 11% of Canadian companies sold online, yet the value of what Canadians bought online more than doubled. Canadians spent 18.9 billion dollars online just three years ago and the amount is increasing rapidly but a lot of those dollars went to companies outside of Canada, due to the unavailability of what they were looking for in their own country. Businesses need to look at what consumers are asking for and provide it, otherwise they will be left behind by those who will.

My relationships with my team and original supporters are not or no longer important, as long as the job gets done and I make money.

While team members can be a source of relationship problems, the original relationships that you brought into your business should always be taken care of. These include financial and marketing experts who may have originally helped get your business started and gave you advice that kept you from making mistakes that would have caused your business to fail. All businesses, even those where the sole proprietor wears all of the hats, have supporting members and those members should be taken into account as your company expands.

Details don’t count.

Most business owners have no idea from month to month how they stand in comparison to previous months. You need to know your numbers and the numbers are in the details. While working with a team can help your business expand faster, if you aren’t keeping track of the little things, your expansion can quickly slow and even start to contract. The smart business owner does his or her homework and takes care of any outstanding issues before they cause major problems.

Managing and pinpointing the key areas where you need help – either from the outside or from learning more, are the stepping stones of a long term, financially viable business. Understanding the underlying details and determining what needs to stay and what needs to go will help you avoid the mistakes that will keep you from growth. Keep your vision for your business intact by always being aware that there may be something you are missing, new ideas you could apply to your business and changes you could make that will help you avoid major business mistakes.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” – Jiddu Krishnamurti

Most of the general public think of small business owners as extroverted, shameless self-promoters and extremely competitive. Though some are, do these traits describe the most successful business owners? Not by a long shot.

While extroverts gain energy from those around them and that is why you will always find them at the centre of a crowd if at all possible, it is the introvert, with no desire or need to be motivated by others, who becomes successful when they spend more time alone, as they lose energy when around others for too long a period.

Extroverts tend to enjoy social situations and do well in them, while introverts cherish their alone time and actually relish being an introvert and the freedom it allows them. Not afraid to be solitary for long periods of time, they put this time to use wisely and building businesses is one way they can use their highly developed creativity.

They value this solitude and put limits on the number of people who are allowed access to their personal living space, which gives them more time to concentrate on their business. Not craving attention, their solitude lends them the ability to focus more on their work and they are able to process ideas and information much quicker without the incessant clamouring of others for their time and the distraction of too many people speaking at once.

Introverts tend to speak less, so listen more and observe what is going on around them. They pull in ideas from their environment and are so good at being independent that they are excellent innovators. Being different doesn’t bother them at all because they realize that what they think is much more important to them than what others think, unless it’s their customers who are speaking to them.

Since they do so well at one-on-one relationships, the outcome of any business problem is usually positive because of their great negotiating skills. They are far more adept at selectively deciding what is really important and what isn’t and know how to give and take and when it is in their best interest to give more than take, something that the majority of extroverts don’t understand at all.

All in all, both extroverts and introverts can be successful business owners if they understand how to use their talents to their advantage. Each works a different way and both ways, when focused solely on a business, can mean huge business growth.

Most small businesses started off with a business plan and while most business owners tend to keep to a plan, schedule or set of goals, there are many whose “sticktoitness” actually keeps them from attaining what they’re aiming for – a successful business.

All business owners should believe in their product or service. It’s your sincerity that helps customers to trust you. When they know you believe in what you’re doing, it helps them to believe in you too. It’s when your belief starts to verge on the fanatical that it becomes a problem. You know you’re becoming a fanatic when you can’t see the mistakes you make or improvements that could be made.

We all like our businesses to have a brand and to be different than those who compete with us to a certain extent. ‘A certain extent’ is the important phrase here. Taking things too far and tweaking your products until they don’t resemble anything useful is going too far and if it’s just for the attention factor it won’t be of any help to your business or you.

There are business owners who refuse to give up even the slightest bit of control within their business. When this concerns finances, that’s one thing but if you are buried beneath a pile of work, need help and refuse to let anyone help you because you can’t control every little thing they do, your business is going to go downhill quickly. Even worse is the business owner who hires an assistant and then insists on everything being done his way. It was his way that got him in trouble in the first place.

Don’t compromise? A business is a series of small comprises. You can’t have everything exactly the way you want it to be and remember, you are working with customers. At some point, you have to give a little. The same thing goes for those who insist on sticking to the smallest possible budget. It will show in what you are offering your customers. Cheap is cheap.

To avoid becoming rigid, choose the right type of business for yourself. This may not be that dream business you had always envisioned. Pick a business that you know something about, not what is popular at the moment.

Always keep an eye on the future, advice given by many business gurus. Don’t forget to look to the past sometimes. It helps you to see how far you’ve come and also shows where you made mistakes. Concentrate on the present. That is where you are now and if you want a successful business future, it will always be based on what you are doing at any given moment.

We hate to call them that but some of them are losers. Business losers that is, owners of small or large businesses that may not seem like losers in general but they have all of the symptoms.

He or she lacks integrity and any belief in what they are doing – what they say and what they do are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. They also lack real ambition. While they are interested in making money they don’t want to do the work necessary to obtain it. If they have goals, they don’t put forth any effort to attain them. They contribute as little as possible and this means they also work as little as possible. One of the biggest traits of a loser is their laziness and total inability to see that they really don’t do anything at all.

Business losers have no real concern for their customers. While pretending they care what their customers think, they try to pacify them rather than please them. In this same vein, they don’t realize that there are consequences for their actions and the business is run haphazardly with no thought for future growth or success.

A loser lacks class and their personality leaves a lot to be desired. It isn’t that these business owners don’t have friends and acquaintances, it’s that people don’t trust totally trust them and their negative attitude turns people off. They have no sense of humour and don’t understand humour. They complain. Everyone loves a complainer, you can tell by the huge group that always surrounds them. 🙂

Not only does a business loser not respect their customers, they also don’t really respect themselves or even know what it means to have self respect. They refuse to take responsibility for mistakes they make in their own business and play “victim” very well.

These types of business owners need to realize that they are no more special than anyone else. Just like the others, if they want a life, they will have to work for it. For those of us who aren’t losers, we have learned that each of us has a different idea of how our lives should look, and our idea of success will not be the same as our neighbours. No one is entitled.

We’ve learned how not to do everything for everyone else but at the same time we aren’t selfish with what we can contribute. This means our time, our effort and our respect. We’ve learned that good business values mean good business and that our customers mean we have a business.

As a business owner, these qualities can enhance both your communications with your customers and how you deal with life in general. If you have the capability of understanding your own emotions and the reasons you react the way you do, it will give you a better understanding of why others are reacting the way they do when you come into contact with them regarding business matters.

In order to thrive, a high level of emotional intelligence is necessary. Take, for example, someone who angers easily, who lacks control over their emotions. Their inability to see the cause of their emotional instability usually leads to job loss, relationship problems and sometimes ill health. While there is such a thing as healthy stress and it can be a motivator in times of crises, most stress that we deal with tends to be of the unhealthy variety.

A person with a high EQ level usually keeps their cool instead of becoming angry, they don’t complain about the small things in life, if at all, and they avoid drama at all costs. They are self aware and self composed, understanding that stress reduction is important. They usually possess a good sense of humour and if conflict arises that can’t be avoided, they work through it as quickly as possible.

Can emotional intelligence be learned?

EQ is a skill and like all skills, it takes practise, knowledge of your own shortcomings and the ability to apply a skill to your life circumstances. Each person responds differently to stress just as all business owners are different and they will have to learn which stressors in their business have the most effect on them. Unlike IQ, which tends to be linked to learning at a younger age, particularly in music, EQ includes the ability to be aware of oneself and our emotions.

Since EQ has a huge effect on problem solving, the higher your emotional intelligence, the better equipped you will be to deal with all aspects of your business. Though intangible, we see it in those who are socially aware, competent in a variety of situations and measured by performance. Someone with a high EQ is able to train themselves to use behaviours that will benefit them. They can modify their own behaviour to the extent that it changes their whole world.

Business involves networking with people who have completely different personalities than your own. Understanding yourself means understanding others and it also means influencing others. Your emotional intelligence can be improved and because of that you can also learn to overcome challenges that you once found impossible to deal with.

We’ve all given it at one time or another but when we hear criticism of our own business and especially when it hits close to home, we lose our ability to handle it gracefully.

Comments on social media, editorials in newspapers or magazines, word of mouth – in all of these ways and more we come across mentions of our business that we find difficult to swallow.

Should we respond, especially in kind? Always think of where the critique is coming from. Not all criticism is helpful or even meant in the way it sounds. Sometimes it’s just there to draw attention to the person who is criticizing and is best ignored.

However, when hearing things against your own business that you find you agree with, the best thing to do is take care of the issue as promptly as possible. If you can, speak with the person who has found a problem and apologize, then ask how you can rectify the situation and keep them as a customer. Problems handled in this way can actually lead to more business as customers truly appreciate great customer service. If they know that your business is one that can be relied upon to fix its mistakes, they will tend to tell others about you.

Take a step back, acknowledge that your business may have its problems and work on what can be improved. Paying too much attention to the comments of others can have a detrimental effect on both you and your business. You’re a professional and remembering that will help you to keep your head up and deal with criticism in a mature manner. You have a right to your own opinion, especially when it comes to your business, so keep in mind that the customer may not always be right.

Each person’s perception of your business will be different and the most important person here is you. Do you feel you’re handling your business properly? Could there be some truth in the criticism coming your way? Learn what you can from it, take it with a grain of salt and put it behind you. In the end, it can only help you improve your business.

Your customers are making what you feel are unfair demands of you, yet you smile, acknowledge their complaint but do nothing about it. At least not immediately. While telling them that everything will be fine, you will fix whatever is wrong, you really have no intention in changing a thing.

You wonder why they’re so upset, over what seems such a trivial matter, and sometimes even tell them, (in a very nice way of course), to settle down, they are overreacting.

Passive aggressive business owners are as common as passive aggressive people. You go out of your way to resist the demands or requests of others. You procrastinate, complain, sulk and purposely avoid doing what needs to be done.

How does this affect your business?

Passive aggressive behaviour comes into play when your negative feelings about someone or something build to the point that it impacts your life and because you’re holding these feelings in, some outward display of destructive behaviour shows up instead.

A business, just like life, always has problems intermittently and a business owner has to be able to handle whatever crops up. If you tend toward being passive aggressive, there will always be an excuse to avoid problems or just not deal with them at all. Whatever happens will always be the fault of others, not you. Competition will be another issue as you will refuse to involve yourself in it or will create some type of scenario where you have been victimized in one way or another.

A business owner needs to be able to communicate, honestly, with his or her customers, clients and others involved in the running of their business. Avoiding the truth, putting off payments, turning a blind eye to what needs to be done will eventually create confusion and resentment in all of the involved parties.

Learning to take responsibility for your actions is the first thing a passive aggressive business owner needs to do. The best way to do this is by looking at how your behaviour affects not only yourself but your business and others around you. Take the time to think before you respond to others and decide why you wish to respond in a certain way or not respond at all! Your reactions should tell you a lot about yourself, and your feelings to your outside circumstances.

Be aware that others may eventually have to set boundaries to control how your behaviour affects their lives. Just like you, their responses and reactions have a reason behind them. You are aiming for consistency, in a good way, and you will need to learn how the outcome of certain behaviours will mean success or not in your business.